


Songs of Sea and Void

by KnightApparent



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adult Content, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Black Character(s), Black woman, Cuckolding, Exophilia, F/M, I almost forgot that’s like a big story element lol, Kind of a solarpunk type world, Sailors, Teratophilia, Void Entity, adult characters, mermaid, merman, there is some WILD shapeshifting that goes on in here so be warned, this is for the monsterfuckers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 10:15:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30070722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightApparent/pseuds/KnightApparent
Summary: The fishing town of Reach has just elected a new First Among Captains, the young and talented sailor Max, who gives due lip service to the gods but trusts in the strength of his hands and the talents of his crew to bring safety and prosperity to his people.But a certain god of the sea doesn’t take kindly to those who take from his waters disingenuously, and has a little lesson in humility planned for the new First Among Captains.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Songs of Sea and Void

**Author's Note:**

> Lol! What is this?? Pure insanity. I’ve tried to tag for everything I could think of, but if I missed something please let me know and I’ll add it.

**I.**

_ There was someone calling her name. Kadijah could hear the echoes of it on the wind, a lilting call that kept her from a well-deserved slumber. Beside her*, her husband of only a scant few hours, Max, slept on, blissfully unaware of his new bride's wakefulness. Affection tugged at her heart as she stared at him in the moonlight, and for a moment, the urge to settle down in the warm shelter of his arms overcame the call that woke her. _

_ But only for a moment. _

_ " _ **_Come to me, Kadijah_ ** _." Was that a man's voice on the ocean breeze, she wondered as she silently slipped out of their bed and rushed, clad only in a pair of lace panties, out of her home and down the deserted streets of her sleeping town. Her mind was utterly focused on that faint voice, her body unable to ignore that soft command. _

_ Seemingly in an instant, she found herself stepping foot on the dock farthest away from the town. Very few boats came to this particular dock, though the structure of it hadn't suffered from this lack. The wood was smooth, as though freshly set, and there was hardly any creaking as she walked to its end. Once there, she stood and watched the moon slowly crest the dark horizon. It was silent, and the waves made little sound. _

_ " _ **_Finally, you've come._ ** _ " There was a young man on the dock. Kadijah wanted to gasp, to stumble back in surprise and horror at the sight of him, but her body would not obey her commands. Her knees buckled, and she slumped down next to him. Her eyes, the only free part of her, repeatedly swept over his form, took in his bare, well-formed chest, arms, and upper torso, the handsome features and dark, wet hair plastered to his skull and curling against his neck, the liquid black eyes that watched her with growing amusement, and, more than any other part of him, the long, muscular tail, like something between a shark and a killer whale, that began just below his belly button and dipped over the edge of the dock and into the inky water below.  _

_ This was the Sea God; she knew it in her bones. _

_ Whatever force held her was loosened, and she sucked in a harsh breath, nearly hyperventilating as she scrambled to arrange herself in the proper respectful stance. A calloused hand, almost burning her with the heat that radiated from it, touched her bare shoulder, halting her frantic movements. _

_ " _ **_There is no need for such formality between us, dear Kadijah. I am the one who summoned you here, after all,_ ** _ " he said, and she was surprised at the depth of his voice. She bit her lip and nodded, still too shocked and too terrified of offending the god to look up at him. The hand on her shoulder dipped down. Her eyes fixed on it, her breath caught in her throat, as the fingers gentled into a caress, smoothing down her collar and breastbone, skirting her ribcage before trailing up the silky undersides of her breasts. Shocked at the intimate touch, her head snapped up, and she stared at him wide eyed. The impassive face broke into a grin, and she shuddered at the sharp, jagged teeth he revealed.  _

_ He leaned forward, now fully cupping her breast in his hand, and pressed a kiss to the side of her mouth. This close, she could smell the salt crusted in his hair and the sea in his breath as it washed over her and caused wetness to pool, hot and achy, between her thighs. His resulting chuckle was the sound of distant thunder rolling in from an angry sea. _

_ " _ **_Don't worry: I'll take good care of you._ ** _ " _

\---

Kadijah's eyes snapped open, and she jerked upright. She looked around frantically, a hand pressed to her chest in an attempt to calm her racing heart. It took several moments for the interior of the room to lose the strangeness that sleep and fear had given it, but eventually she recognized the bedroom she shared with her husband. 

She looked down at herself, tentatively touched her neck, her breasts, the side of her mouth. What was that? Was it a dream? She slid out of the bed and checked her feet for signs of dirt. They were clean. 

"Had to have been a dream," she murmured, trying to convince herself. If that was a dream, then it was her most realistic one to date. She swore she could still feel the wood of the dock beneath her feet and his hand on her breast. Her hands smoothed down her body, doing their best to erase the tingling feel of his touch from her skin. It was a dream, most likely brought on by the stress of the marriage ceremony and her impending duties as the wife of the First Among Captains, who also doubled as mayor. It meant nothing at all.

"A dream of the Sea God is supposed to bring good luck," she said hesitantly. She thought whoever coined that phrase must not have not met the same god as she. If the creature in her dream was the elusive Sea God, upon whom all those who made their living from the sea depended, then she could not imagine the sort of luck he actually brought with him. In her dream, she had been startled by the sight of him, having not seen the god since she was a small girl whose memories had lent a rosy sweetness to the form of what she was startled to realize was closer to monster than friend, and in the light of day, she was a little disgusted by the aching arousal he stirred in her. Even now, her thighs were slick with the evidence of that reaction. She snorted harshly and stalked off towards the shower.

"Kadijah! You up yet, sweetie?" Her husband called out, his voice a welcome distraction from the vestiges of the night. She smiled, and instantly all thoughts of her dream were forgotten.

"I'm headed to the shower, bae," she called back and then paused, a small frown knitting the space between her eyebrows, before asking, "shouldn't you have been out on the boat by now?" She could hear him moving around their small home, his footsteps heavy and sure as they approached her. She turned the shower on and rested her elbows on the counter. 

"Have you looked outside yet?" He asked as he stepped into the open doorway and leaned against it. 

Max was an attractive man, not exactly handsome, but appealing in a worn and steady way. He gave off the impression that he had weathered many storms and would endure still more with the same ease. He was the only one who did not honor the Sea God by tossing the best of his catch into the sea as an offering, and it was whispered among his men that he laughed and dared the Storm God to do her worst in the midst of her rages. He relied on his skill as a sailor and a fisherman to improve his fortune, and they were more than paying off. He had the love of his beautiful wife and the admiration of his crew and town to prove it.

"No, I just woke up. What's out there?" She asked. He shrugged, a puzzled frown on his face and something like distant fear in his eyes.

"It's weird. The tide hasn't come in and," he paused and looked back to the open room and the large window that looked out to the sea.

"The water is totally still." She blinked at that and turned the words over in her mind to be certain of their meaning.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked. He shrugged and gestured towards the sea.

“I mean just that. The water isn't moving, not even a little bit. And it's quiet; not even the birds are going near it.” Absently, Kadijah shut off the shower and walked back in their bedroom and towards the large bay doors. Max hastily threw one of his button up shirts over her shoulders when she threw open the doors, and she pulled it closed with quiet thanks. Foreboding filled her stomach and sat there heavily as she stared at the beach. 

Just as Max said, the tide was far out, much farther than normal. Boats lay on their sides all over the harbor, and she could see crewmembers scurrying like ants on all of them. The sea was perfectly still, like a bath that had been run and left to go cold. It held itself back in a razor sharp line, unnatural and unsettling, everywhere except -

“Is that -”

“Yeah, it's the Fish King’s dock, and it's the only place where the water comes in. I was just heading out there when I heard you get up,” Max said, oblivious to the way his wife suddenly stiffened and all the blood drained from her face, lending her rich brown skin an ashen pallor. 

"The...the Fish King's dock?" She asked faintly. Max nodded and threw one muscular arm around her shoulders, pulling her firmly against his chest. Her hands came up of their own volition and gripped his forearm tightly. 

"Yeah, everyone's saying it's an omen, so some of the other Captains from the Fishermen's Council want to go down there and appeal to the Sea God," he said, unable or unwilling to keep the undercurrent of contempt from his voice. Her grip on him tightened. 

"You shouldn't mock other people's dearly held beliefs, Max, especially when it comes to their gods." She said quietly. Her husband shifted behind her, his hands moving to massage her tense shoulders soothingly even as he snorted softly. 

"Ah, my bad, baby. I just can't help that I think it's dumb to pray to a myth when everything I've ever gotten has been with my own two hands ." He said, and she wondered how he couldn't feel the air become heavier with every word he spoke. A breeze swept in from the open doors, thick with salt and humidity and something that felt almost gleeful. She pushed away from him and scrounged around until she found a loose skirt to pull on. Slipping into a pair of sandals, Kadijah took her husband's proffered hand, and the two walked out of their home and joined the throng of people heading towards the Fish King's dock. 

\---

It was an unmercifully hot walk from their small home just off the beach to the Fish King’s dock at the end of the harbor. They joined the throng of worried townsfolk, the divers and jewelry makers, chefs and net weavers, mechanics and scientists, that were not engaged on the grounded ships as they made their way through the town. Most people were talking amongst themselves, showing each other the hastily made offerings they all carried, commenting on the designs of them and assuring each other that, yes the Sea God would love their offering and return the waters to them. Kadijah’s fingers brushed against the old whale bone and sea glass necklace her mother had given her as a child, taking comfort in the worn runes carved in each bone bead, and she wondered if the old heirloom would please the god she saw in her dreams. Occasionally, people would call out to the couple or come up to them and walk beside them, always asking the same nervous questions which Max would confidently answer.

“We have no idea what’s causing this, of course,” he would say, shocking the people around them with his cheerful admittance of his ignorance, “but we’re going at this from every angle, and I’m positive the situation will be resolved shortly.” 

The crowd was thicker at the dock, people of all ages jostling each other as they placed their offerings along the dock’s edges and knelt to offer prayers of supplication, and it took some time for Max and Kadijah to work their way to the front of it. A smattering of the Council was there, the men and women doing their best to appear confident and unconcerned in front of the townsfolk, but Kadijah could see their worry as plain as day. Several of them visibly perked up when they caught sight of Max, and he hurried to join the tight knot of them.

“Thank the Storm God you’re here, Max,” Shasta, captain of the  _ Feisty Mermaid _ , said as he approached. With the arrival of Max, five of the seven Captains of the Council were in attendance. 

There was the aforementioned Shasta , her dreadlocked hair gathered into a high ponytail that swayed in the wind. Jocasta, captain of  _ Arrakis _ and the youngest of the gathered captains, was biting her lip nervously and holding a driftwood figure to her chest, her other hand anxiously fiddling with the hem of her hijab. Paolo, captain of the  _ Time Rider _ , stood closest to Shasta and had one arm carelessly draped over her shoulders, his multiple earrings glinting in the bright sunlight. Jose, captain of  _ Merida _ , rounded the assembled group out, and it was he that stood closest to the edge of the dock with arms folded across his powerful chest and a pensive frown tugging his full lips down. 

They all clasped hands, squinting into the harsh sunlight as they stared at each other. Max looked out past Jose and considered the strange sight before him. The water came up to the dock in a perfectly straight column no wider than the dock itself. Within it, fish and other sea life could be seen swimming around, but when anyone attempted to dip their hands in or made any movements towards the water, the animals would dart away as though in fear for their lives. Its surface was as still and calm as if the wind was not currently furiously blowing, and the juxtaposition of that caused a queer feeling to settle in the pit of Max’s stomach. Despite himself, he hoped this ridiculous appeal of theirs would work.

"Alright, guys, let's do this," Max said before lifting his voice in the beginning strains of the supplication to the Sea God. 

**"You have some nerve calling me thus,”** an unsettlingly deep voice, like that of the radio crackle a distant quasar made in the middle of the night, called out from the edge of the dock. The captains released each other’s hands, breaking ranks and whipping around to stare, open-mouthed, at the figure that had appeared at the end of the dock. 

\----

Max could hardly believe what he was seeing. The creature ( _ the god _ his mind whispered to him) was lounging at the end of the dock, its tail lazily dipping into the water and flicking it onto the wood surface. It was completely relaxed, utterly at ease as the people gasped and scrambled to their knees as they caught sight of it, many of them prostrating themselves or falling over senseless when its ink black eyes met theirs. His fellow captains were all kneeling before the creature, and Max could feel Jocasta not so subtly tugging on his pants in an attempt to get him to kneel as well. Grudgingly, he did so, sitting back on his heels and openly staring at the god. 

The god tossed his head back, throwing his entire being into a long, cat-like stretch that enhanced the inhumanness of his form, before settling again into an easy slouch that did nothing to diminish the power that emanated from him.

**“I will do you the kindness of telling you that this town has greatly offended me,”** the god said, cocking his head and smiling gently when the gathered people collectively gasped and began fearfully whispering amongst themselves. Max felt anger begin to burn his insides at this display. This was a cruel god before him, to take such pleasure in the suffering of these innocent people. His fists balled at his sides.

“What can we do to earn your forgiveness, great god of the deep!” Someone yelled out from the crowd. The Sea God’s gentle smile turned indulgent, and he slowly swept his eyes over the shifting sea of humanity before him.

**“Ahhhh,”** the god drew the sound out, his smile growing wider to reveal teeth sharper and more jagged than any shark’s Max had ever seen,  **“thankfully, I am easily satisfied. Give me that woman there to lay with as I please, and I will bless this town for as long as I call her mine,** ” he said, pointing somewhere behind Max. He heard a familiar gasp and whipped his head around to see Kadijah, his beautiful wife, trembling behind him. The bottom of his stomach dropped, and his heart seemed to slow to a stop in his chest.

“M-Me?” She stuttered, eyes wide with disbelief and something that looked like resignation, as though she had been waiting for the creature to say this all along. The god hummed, seemingly agreeing with his unspoken thought, and Max saw it beckon her closer out of the corner of his eye. 

“ **Yes, you. Come to me, Kadijah,** ” it said, its voice dropping several octaves and glittering black eyes becoming matte with intention. She took one halting step forward before Max caught her and pulled her against him. She sucked in a breath, tearing her eyes away from the creature with great difficulty, and tilted her head up to look at him. Max did not like the look on her face. She was pulling away from him, her entire body leaning towards the Sea God even as she gave Max all her attention. He shook her slightly, unable to help himself.

“What are you doing, baby? You can’t actually agree with this? This is crazy!” He shook her again because her eyes had wandered from his face to gaze at the god. Max shifted, blocking her view of the creature as much as he could, ignoring the angry murmurs of the townspeople behind him. This was his wife, for god’s sake! He wasn’t going to let some creature, some  _ monster _ , fuck her whenever it wanted!

“There’s no choice, Max. He controls the fucking ocean in case you haven’t noticed! It’s not like I want to lay with him or whatever, but if it’s the only way he’ll give the fucking sea back, then you bet your ass I will; now let me go,” she snapped, jerking away from him, stumbling a little from the force of it. Instinctively, he reached out to steady her, and she let him, taking a moment to rest against him before pushing back and walking around him and toward the waiting god. He followed her movements, rooted to the spot, and noted how her shoulders seemed to tremble just that little bit. It soothed him to know that she wanted to do this as little as he wanted her to.

Kadijah hesitantly approached the Sea God and sat down next to it. Max growled low in his throat when the god leaned forward and pushed the loosely buttoned shirt off her shoulders, baring her heavy breasts in one fluid movement. He wanted to look away, to turn and get as far away from what he was witnessing as possible. He could pretend it was all a fever dream if he didn't see it himself, but his legs wouldn't move, his body refusing to obey his ever more frantic demands to move, move, move before he saw more than he could handle. 

The god lightly gripped Kadijah’s chin between its index finger and thumb, gently coaxing her to tilt her head up to its’. The same thumb left her chin to caress her bottom lip, and her mouth parted, so sensual was the brief touch. Max again tried to turn away, at the very least close his eyes, but he could not. A force much stronger and greater than he was holding him still and forcing him to watch as the god brushed its mouth against his wife's slowly, repeating this action again and again with increasing firmness until their mouths were moving together. It cupped the back of her head, tongue surging past her teeth as it deepened the kiss. 

At first, Kadijah was a passive participant, merely moving her lips as the god did and letting him taste the fullness of her mouth as it pleased him, but it wasn't long before her hands were tangled in the thick black hair at the base of his neck as she began to kiss him back, unaware of the low moans of enjoyment that were escaping her. The god (“ **Call me Levi,** ” he'd whispered against her lips when he began kissing her, his words low and deep and just for her) broke the kiss, leaving her gasping for breath while he planted hot, open mouthed kisses along her throat and shoulders. He held her firmly in his arms, tilting her head back to arch her neck, exposing the tender skin at the junction of her neck and shoulder to his hungry gaze.

Gently, he scraped his serrated teeth across the tender skin, lapping up the blood that welled up before suckling the wound until it and the surrounding area were a lovely and unmistakable love mark that would not fade for months to come. He repeated this process, traveling lower and lower until Kadijah was spread beneath him on the surface of the dock. She was panting, her dark eyes wide with arousal and the vestiges of fear, but it was obvious that lust was winning the battle when she subtly arched her back to bring his attention to the gorgeous breasts before him. It was not difficult for him to indulge her, greedily sucking one nipple into his hot mouth while he rolled the other between his fingers. Her moan then was much louder, and the Sea God spared a glance upward to see her husband still rooted where he left him, jealousy and betrayal already eating the human alive. A low chuckle rumbled in his chest, and his hand left her breast to smooth down her body.

“ **Raise and open your legs for me, sweet girl,”** he murmured against her and was gratified when she quickly obeyed. Her husband choked on his own voice trapped in his throat when he saw how easily, and even eagerly, his dear wife was submitting to the Sea God’s touch, and the god smiled even as he was still gently suckling her breast. He slowly massaged her inner thigh, releasing her nipple to lick and kiss up her neck, sucking the underside of her jaw as his fingers pushed the seat of her panties to the side and stroked the length of her.

“Ohhh!” She cried out, shutting her eyes and throwing one arm over them as he teased her slit. Her other arm looped around his shoulder, and her fingers dug between his shoulder blades, the nails biting when his thumb found her clit and relentlessly massaged it. He kissed her again, more deeply than before, groaning as she wiggled her hips this way and that in an attempt to force his questing fingers to enter her.

“ **Do you like this, sweet girl,** ” he asked, avidly watching her face contort with pleasure and frustration. She kept jerking her hips up, following his fingers with growing desperation, moaning and thrashing beneath him as he built her up and refused to let her go over the edge of her orgasm.

“I like it, Levi! I like it so much, please, please, I need you inside!” She cried, her lovely voice a high, keening whine. He smiled and removed his hand from her panties, chuckling at the unhappy noise she made as a result.

“ **You want me to fill you, sweet Kadijah?”** He growled, and she nodded earnestly, her eyes nearly scalding him with their intensity. He rolled over onto his back, exposing the pale underbelly of his tail. There was a slit, close to where his groin would be were he human, and it parted to let his penis extend out. For a long moment, all Kadijah could do was stare while the organ reached, what she dearly hoped was, its full length. It was long and white, almost translucent and jarring compared to the golden brown of his upper half and the dark patterns of his tail. She could see the engorged veins heavy with blood, and it seemed to twitch under her stare. She swallowed, anxious. Did he really expect her to put that inside her? She met his void black eyes and flushed, once again aware of the unbearable ache between her legs as well as the responsibility she bore. This was something she had to do or people would suffer. She couldn't have that guilt on her heart.

Kadijah quickly dragged her panties off and swung her leg over his tail to straddle him. She settled against him, gasping as his shaft eagerly pressed against her. His hands settled on her hips, and he watched her expectantly. Sighing unevenly, she reached between them and lined him up with her hole, pausing just long enough to gather her courage before impaling herself on his throbbing shaft. 

“So  _ thick _ ,” she groaned as the god filled her. She braced her hands on his chest as she slowly took the entirety of his thick length inside, unable to keep quiet as more and more of her pussy was stimulated by him. Great Leviathan, he even felt differently inside her than a normal cock did; the skin covering his shaft felt slippery and smooth like the belly of a fish, almost rubbery in texture. The head of him was narrow, seeming to have a mind of its own as it curled this way and that, flicking the hard nub of her clitoris and teasing her opening before she’d pushed it inside. It was as if she could feel every bump and ridge of the hard flesh, so hot as it curved up and up, making her gasp, making her want to scream as she took inch after throbbing inch into her dripping sheath. He felt so big in her, so good; she had never been stretched like this, filled like this. She was teetering on the edge of climax, and all he had done was fill her. 

“ **You're as wet as the ocean,** ” he breathed, and she felt blood rush to her face, embarrassed. He smiled at her reaction, the expression soft and genuine, and Kadijah was struck for the first time by the beauty of the god beneath her.

Strong hands gripped her ass cheeks firmly and began bouncing her on the dick inside her, punching out loud, lewd groans of enjoyment from her with every stroke. She threw her head back, arching into the hands that squeezed her breasts, thrilling at the deep voice that praised and encouraged her, totally unaware that the god was no longer leading her and that it was she who was riding him, begging him to give her more and more even as her husband and fellow townsfolk watched in astonished silence. 

“ **You're going to come for me now,** ” Levi growled, eyes narrowed to slits and jagged shark teeth bared in a snarl. Kadijah did as she was told, her pussy clamping down on him as she came with a choked wail, oblivious to the fingers that gripped her so tightly that the skin was already bruising, only aware of the cock pulsing inside her as the Sea God filled her with his seed in several harsh thrusts.

The god released Max from his power, and the man dropped to his knees once more. His eyes were burning; he didn't think he'd been able to close them even once during the ordeal. He massaged his forehead, vaguely aware that he was in some form of shock, before looking up at the prone pair. His wife was still straddling the god. Her skirt was a tangled mess around her waist, and her breasts were pressed between her and the muscular chest of the god, who was idly petting her bare back with one hand and squeezing her ass with the other. Of her face, he could only see her mouth, the rest being buried in the crook of the Sea God’s neck. The god was speaking to her, lowly murmuring in her hair, and she was nodding slowly, her hand occasionally flexing on the ball of his shoulder. He was still inside her; Max could tell by the subtle shifting of her hips, a sort of helpless little roll, as if she wanted more than what had been given. As if what was given wasn't enough, Max thought miserably. 

He wanted to be angry, at her or the god, he wasn't sure, but all he could do was watch as the Sea God pulled her up to kiss her again, could only stare as the creature rolled until they were laying on their sides, Kadijah’s leg thrown over his tail, her heel catching on the small dorsal fin and digging in as the god began to grind against her, shoving into her with short, undulating strokes. Max had caught a glimpse of the god’s cock when he rolled onto his back, and it had reminded him uncomfortably of a killer whale’s. Hysterically, he found himself hoping that the resemblance was in appearance only and not in length so that his beloved wife wasn't being harmed while the god thoroughly fucked her. 

There was no urgency in their lovemaking this time, and several times Max saw the Sea God slow to a near halt so that he could devote more attention to kissing and caressing the woman in his arms, openly admiring the rippling muscles in her back and arms, burying his hand in her hair and letting the braids pour from his fingers like water. He held her close, tucked her leg higher and tighter against him so that his every thrust rubbed her pouting clit, winding her tighter and tighter until she was begging him to take her faster, to go deeper, harder, writhing against the hands on her back and ass like a worm caught on a hook. The Sea God gave it to her, rolling so that she was fully on her back and he between her legs, using his powerful arms to create the motion he needed to repeatedly slam into her, helped along by her hips eagerly working to receive him. 

She was much quieter when she climaxed beneath the Sea God, merely riding out her pleasure with a broken sigh, pressing her face into the god’s forearm as her sleek walls fluttered around him and pulled his orgasm out of him in several short, jerky spasms. The Sea God pulled out of her then, smiling faintly at the small moan of loss it unwillingly drew from her throat, and stretched out beside her, his penis slowly retracting back into its slit, glistening with their combined fluids. Kadijah lay where the god had left her, barely twitching when he gently tugged her skirt down over her cum covered thighs and covered her chest with her husband's shirt. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before directing his attention to the townsfolk who hadn't had the sense, or the ability in Max’s case, to leave.

“ **I am satisfied for the moment, so I will give you back the sea,”** he said calmly, a pleased grin curving his mouth when the people saw that, yes, the tide had come in and the harbor was once again as it should be, “ **so long as this woman is mine, this town will flourish under my tender care.** ” Finished speaking, the god swept his eyes over the humans once more, pausing for the briefest moment to focus laughing black eyes on Max, before leaping high into the air and diving neatly into the warm water below. 

  
  
  


**II.**

Kadijah was shaking like a leaf by the time she and Max entered their home. He was carrying her, and as soon as he set her down, she was stumbling on shaky legs to their bathroom. The sound of her dry heaving and crying soon filled the silence. 

Max quietly shut the front door and walked stiffly to the couch, sitting down and covering his face with his hands. His eyes still felt gritty, and he wanted to close them and sleep for the next ten hours, but every time he closed his eyes, he was assaulted by image after image of the Sea God pleasuring his wife. He groaned loudly, jumping up and stalking over to the bookshelf, scanning the titles until his eyes caught and held on one titled  _ Songs of Sea and Void: A Primer on the Leviathan _ . He touched the slim volume with the tip of his finger. He knew from old sailor’s songs that the ocean god’s proper god name was Leviathan, but it was generally considered presumptuous and arrogant to speak a god’s given name aloud. Doing so too easily invited said deity into your life and personal business. He snorted, thinking that he was already way past that point. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about this god, this Leviathan.

The book was packed with tiny print in defiance of its limited pages. Max flipped through it, shocked by the addition of handwritten, each in a different hand, notes on nearly every margin, pictures, diagrams, and short spells filling the space. He slowly walked back to the couch, absently sitting down as he read the personal accounts of generations’ worth of dealings with the Leviathan. Details, ranging from personality quirks and favorite foods to drawings of the various guises the god preferred, slowly stitched together a picture of the god that Max did not like. His first impression, that the god was cruel and delighted in the suffering of humans, seemed more and more correct the more he read. And yet the god was capable of great kindness, provided he got what he wanted. 

He turned the page again and was startled when a picture slipped from the pages. He caught it before it could fall to the ground and studied it. It was of Kadijah and her mother at the beach. She was a baby, still newly born from what he could tell, and she was bundled in a sea green blanket. Her mother, Akira, was holding her in her arms and smiling widely. In the background, a priestess was bent over a small altar. Frowning, Max turned the picture over, and his blood froze when he read the description:

_ Kadijah (2 months old) after dedicating her to the Leviathan _

“You gotta be fucking shitting me,” he breathed. Certain things made sense with this new piece of information. Kadijah’s devotional practices for the Sea God, greater than even his most superstitious sailor, how her gaze always seemed to pull to the sea, as though waiting for something, made much more sense in this light. Her father’s cryptic words to him only hours before the wedding began: “Pray that she spends her life futilely waiting for the sea.” God, those words mocked him now! And the words of the god itself taunted him even more so:

_ “ _ **_So long as I call this woman mine, this town will flourish._ ** _ ” _

__ “And you couldn’t even wait a day, could you, you fish bitch,” Max said, a bitter chuckle escaping him. He tossed the book down and stood. The sounds of Kadijah’s stress had quieted down, so he made his way to the bathroom. A small, very small and very petty, part of him whispered that she had better have drowned herself in the bathtub, but he shoved that thought away hastily, appalled that he was even capable of thinking such a thing. No matter what happened, he loved Kadijah, adored every inch of her. It wasn’t her fault she was dedicated to a shitty fish god as a baby, and it really wasn’t her fault the capricious god had decided he wanted her out of all the babies that were given to him each year.  _ If only she hadn’t enjoyed it so much… _

__ He pushed open the door and was not prepared for the sight in front of him. Kadijah sat huddled between the bathtub and the toilet. At the sound of the door opening, she lifted her head from between her arms and flinched at the sight of him standing tall in the doorway. The cheerful sunlight pouring in from the window made her look like a model out of one of those hipster photoshoots that were always coming in with the newspapers from inland, all broken and tragically beautiful in a jarringly cheerful setting. She was a wreck, hair disheveled from the hard fucking she’d received just hours before, face puffy and eyes red from crying, a haunted, desolate look of resignation filling her eyes the longer he stood in the doorway. He shifted uneasily before sliding down the frame of the door to sprawl, boneless and weary, on the floor beside her.

“Hey, baby.” He said quietly. Her mouth twitched.

“Hey, bae.” She replied, voice scratchy, from crying or from how raggedly she’d been screaming the god’s name before, Max tried not to think about. Kadijah sat up a little straighter, and Max glimpsed for the first time the visible evidence of the Sea God’s touch on her skin. Her neck and exposed shoulders were covered in bite marks and hickeys. That he could see the hickeys at all was a testament to how hard the Leviathan had to have been sucking on her dark skin. 

“Do you...want a divorce, Max?” The question, hesitant, scared, but ready for anything, honestly startled him. A divorce? From her? The thought hadn’t crossed his mind, and even the thought of it now was strangely repulsive. He loved her, had loved her since he was fifteen and they worked on  _ The Dreadful Whale _ together. She was his queen, his only true proof of a greater power out in the cosmos, his soulmate.

“I love you, Kadijah, and you’re my wife. No way am I going to let you leave me, especially not for some smelly fish god,” he growled. His lovely wife barked out a laugh and pushed one of her bare feet against his pant leg.

“Don’t insult the Great Leviathan, Max, it never ends well.” She admonished faintly, and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. 

“Whatever you say, baby. Let’s get you in the shower, yeah? I’ve gotta go to a council meeting pretty soon, and I’m sure that’ll be so much fun,” he drawled sarcastically, already dreading the whispers, the side-eyes, he would have to endure because of this.  _ It just had to be her, didn’t it, you piece of shit? _

He helped her stand up, her legs stiff and weak from sitting so long in such a cramped position, and she slowly shed her clothes. He sucked in an angry breath at the sight of the bite marks on her heavy breasts, the hickeys on her soft belly, the finger-shaped bruises on her wide, plush hips, the cum oozing down her inner thighs. She awkwardly tried to cover herself with her arms, her braids falling forward to cover her lovely face as her full lips pulled down into an ashamed frown. His hands hesitated over her form for a moment, the tremor that ran through them from anger and disgust at the sickening realization that he desperately wanted to lick her clean. Bile rose in his throat, and he swallowed it back, shoving the urge to the darkest corner of his mind, never to be examined by him ever. 

“Ah…I’ve got it, bae,” she said, twisting away from his outstretched hands and easing into the shower. He busied himself with setting the water to her preferred temperature to mask the shock of anger that went through him at her reaction. So, she didn’t want him to touch her now, huh? Fine by him.

“Call if you need me,” he said shortly, abruptly turning to walk out of the stifling bathroom and the unsettling mix of emotions his wife’s form was stirring in him. He needed fresh air, and he needed it now.

\----

Kadijah stepped out of the shower only seconds after Max slammed the front door behind him, her mind an anxious, swirling mess of conflicting thoughts and emotions. She stared at her body in the bathroom mirror, hissing softly as she touched the bite marks littering her neck, breasts, and thighs. It astonished her, dimly, how badly they all throbbed with pain when the feel of Levi’s teeth sinking into her skin had felt so good, nearly orgasmic in itself. She scoffed and wrapped a fluffy towel around herself, shielding her body from her own traitorous thoughts, and stalked into the bedroom in search of something fuzzy and warm to wear. 

Dragging on a set of pajamas, she settled into a chair with her phone, idly scrolling through various blogs in an attempt to distract herself. It was no use. No matter how hard she tried, Kadijah constantly had to shake herself out of a stupor, out of reliving what it felt like to have the sea god beneath her, on top of her, inside her filling and pleasing her more completely than man or woman ever had in her life. What a strange dichotomy it was, to remember the sea god as he had presented himself to her when she was a small girl, to still remember his gentle fingers in her hair as he decorated the afro puffs with seashells, to remember the steel of his arms as he held her up while she learned to swim, to remember the soothing lilt of his voice as he sang her lullabies through the hull of her father's ship, and then to have these newer, sharper memories of those same fingers biting into the flesh of her hips as he furiously buried his cock into her over and over, those same arms caging her in while he held himself above her, that same voice groaning against the sweat slicked skin of her neck as he filled her with hot cum. 

She groaned, tilting her head back to rest on the soft cushion, and cast her eyes seaward. The sunny, relentlessly cheerful day was darkening as sullen clouds began forming. It was the Storm God’s brooding season, the late summer her favorite time to play fast and loose with coastal weather. Legends had it that it was she, the Storm God who chased the seasons across the earth, who first greeted the Void God when the Star God stole his domain and cast him into the sea. Kadijah wondered if that was true and how a god of the void could consent to existing in such a small space as the oceans. Perhaps she could ask him.

“Now that I'm his whore,” she said mockingly, suddenly burning with helpless rage, “I should be able to ask all kinds of things. When should I ask: before or after he's fucked me in front of my husband? Will I beg him again like some touch starved virgin? Should I be thankful for this, Levi?” She was screaming, crying, she suddenly realized, fat tears spilling from her dark brown eyes as she stared out toward an increasingly agitated sea. Could he hear her raging against him? Did he even care if he did?

“Is this what you meant, all those years ago, when you said you'd take care of me? Was this your plan all along, my beloved god of the depths?” She asked softly, and the wind rattled the window panes as a storm, low and mournful, rolled in from the sea.

It was almost like a dream, the sight of him lounging so carelessly on the Fish King’s dock, as if he'd pulled her into the void over which he still retained dominion. When he'd said he wanted her, to lay with her, she hadn't been able to believe it. And yet, when Max tried to stop her, she had been so angry. Who was he to always defy the gods, and who did he think she was that she would so easily refuse the very one she had been promised to? But he didn't know. How could he have when it was a secret tradition passed down through the women of her family? It was harmless, her mother had told her time and again. The Sea God only ever wanted their companionship as girls; never had he returned when they began to blossom into women.

Until now, with her. 

She couldn't even pretend not to know what he planned for her, not when he'd been kind enough to tell her himself. His voice, husky and sated, had filtered down from its origin in her hair as he explained just what she could expect from him from now on.

_ “ _ **_I will have you spread beneath me at least once a week, my love. You are free to lay with your husband as it pleases you, but make no mistake,_ ** _ ” and here he'd paused to subtly roll his tail and remind her of the substantial length still buried inside her, “ _ **_he will never please you as I will. Whatever you ask of me, I will grant you if it is within my power to do so. You are my companion, and I will always take care of you.”_ ** __

Why she had been chosen to be his companion, why she, out of the countless generations of her family that had been promised to him, had been counted worthy, Kadijah was certain she would never know. She pressed her thighs together and was uncomfortably reminded of the semen leaking out of her. It would take several hours before it was all out, and she knew she would smell of it, and of him, for at least a day. That was such a small detail in comparison to the large love marks and bites decorating her skin, marks that she had been told not to hide. 

“Poor Max,” she sighed, turning her thoughts to her husband. This would always be harder for him than it was for her. She would never admit, but could never deny to herself, that she enjoyed being the focus of her beloved god’s affections. Before permanently settling in Reach so that she could attend the college the next town over, she was living the life of a sea nomad as her family had done for hundreds of years. Sure, they most often made berth in Reach as well as weathered certain seasons in the town, but it was their way to rely on the Sea God’s good graces for their livelihoods. It was natural for her to love the god as she did: all of her family did so. She had been reared on stories of her ancestors’ encounters with him and had played with him as a child. His opinion would always hold greater weight for her than those of the townsfolk. 

Max was not like that. He had his own personal god that held him in an iron grip: validation. For as long ad she'd known him, Max needed the good opinions of others to be truly happy. The son of a landlocked merchant, he'd struggled hard to become the man he was today, a man who was loved and regarded as the best around by fishermen older and wiser than he. She could only imagine his struggle now, his pain at something he could not have stopped. 

\---

Of course the room went quiet as soon as Max entered. The twenty gathered people, men and women and otherwise from the captains and first mates of the seven principle ships to seven of the townsfolk chosen by their peers to represent them, made up the Council of Fishermen for their town. Max, being First Among Captains, was head of the council and de facto mayor of the town. He was the youngest the town of Reach had ever had at twenty-six, and so he entered the room with a chip on his shoulder, a feeling like he had to stand firm against the sly remarks that would come his way. 

Misha, his first mate and cousin to Kadijah, was the first to approach him, a sympathetic smile quirking her lips as she pulled him into a brief one-armed hug. He returned it, hand momentarily gripping the back of her shirt with astonishing force, before he stepped away from her and faced the rest of the council.

“By now, I’m sure everyone here has heard how the situation with the sea was resolved,” he said, having decided it was best to address what was surely on everyone’s minds right off the bat so that they could get to other, more important, matters. 

“We’ve all heard that it’s not an issue anymore,” Marisol, captain of  _ Xibalba _ , said, “but I’m finding it a little difficult to comprehend, ya know?” There was scattered agreement throughout the room, and Max sucked his teeth in annoyance as he stalked to the head of the council table and sat down. He scanned their faces, wondering just what he should tell them. Most of the captains were of an age with him, Tanisha the next youngest at twenty-eight and Jose being the oldest at thirty-nine. There was a wider age range among the first mates, his own Misha being two years his junior and Brandon of  _ The Dreadful Whale _ being the oldest at forty-four. These captains and first mates were more likely to believe and sympathise with him when they learned all the details of the Sea God’s demand. Most of them had some type of devotional practice toward the god, and it was within all of their frames of belief for the god to appear in the manner that he had. The seven townsfolk that rounded out the council would be much more difficult to deal with. They were the ones who were most likely to see what had happened as a sign of weakness on his part, and the thought of them going through town and spreading rumors about his inability to find some other way of appeasing the Sea God made his blood boil. As if a god like that could be reasoned with in the first place!

“What’s so difficult to comprehend about it, Marisol? The Sea God came to us at the dock and told us that the entire town had offended him, and the only way he would return the sea to us was for the person he chose to become his consort or whatever.” He said nonchalantly, as if it wasn’t a big deal, as if his eyes weren’t figuratively bleeding from the awful sight of it. Kaz, a merchant who specialized in exporting, furrowed his brows and braced his elbows on the table.

“Yeah...we all know that part of the story, Max, and while none of us like that that’s what the Great Leviathan requested of us to atone for our offense, it’s already been done. I guess what most of us are curious about,” he paused and glanced around at the other council members, an amused glint in his green eyes when they once again met Max’s, “is why you were totally okay with standing there while our patron god did his business with your wife.” 

Shasta’s hand on his forearm was all that kept Max from launching himself over the table and wringing Kaz’s neck. 

“Don’t,” she whispered sternly, shooting a disappointed look at some of their fellow captains and first mates, who hastily wiped the smirks off their faces. Max didn’t notice. His vision was too clouded with rage and wounded pride too see their amusement at his expense. 

“You weren't there, Kaz, so shut up. None of us have ever heard of the Sea God taking a lover before. For all we know, he wouldn't let Max leave.” That was Jose, and as usual, he sounded utterly done with being the lone voice of reason and compassion. Max calmed significantly as Jose's words had the desired effect on the snickering council members, and when he next spoke, it was from a place of calm.

“In the end, it doesn't matter; the god is satisfied and has returned and blessed the sea for us. What does matter is that we make sure we don't offend him again,” Max said and nodded toward Billie, town historian and expert on the gods. The middle aged woman returned his nod with one of her own. 

“Not much is known about the Great Leviathan, but I'll search everything we have and then some to discover any possible triggers for the god's ire,” she said confidently. Once that was decided, Max was able to steer the council to their pre-planned business, and by the end of the session, several important things had been decided on, and he was feeling pretty good about himself overall. 

As was their way, they mingled with each other, sharing gossip and fishing stories that they had accumulated from the month before. There was a lot of excitement about the upcoming festival scheduled to start the following week. It was the yearly two week celebration, a time to thank the Sea God and the Storm God for their continued benevolence. This year, they were going to have an extra focus on the Sea God in the hope that it would further please him and keep the unpredictable deity from becoming displeased with them again.

Max worked the room as well as he could, shoring up his position with the other Captains, asking after the families of the First Mates, and speaking authoritatively about conservation laws he wanted to enforce with the town elders. By the time he made his way back to MIsha, the atmosphere of the room was much closer to the friendly environment he was used to, and he felt pride at his own abilities swell up in his chest. Everything would be fine, he thought to himself as the council members slowly dispersed. By this time next week, some new drama will have captured the minds of the people, and he and Kadijah could work on getting their new life together back on track. Maybe he’d give command of the  _ Siren’s Heart _ , his own fishing vessel, to Misha for a few weeks while he and Kadijah spent the time inland. A few weeks away from the sea and the incessant call of its god would do wonders for her, he was sure.

Everything would be just fine.

  
  


**III.**

By the time the Sea Storm Festival rolled around, Max was ready to get on his ship and sail away from Reach forever. The previous week had been nothing short of hellish for him, and it didn’t fail that he went home every night boiling with suppressed rage. 

Everywhere he went, he was followed by whispering, giggling people. Out of the corners of his eyes, he would see them pointing or making rude gestures as he walked by. When he entered a room, the conversations would stop, and the people would plaster fake smiles on their faces while their eyes laughed and mocked him. They knew better than to treat Kadijah in the same manner after what happened to the first few people to do so. It enraged him that the god was watching, listening, close enough to the gossip and chatter of the town to be able to protect Kadijah from hurt feelings. He hated the look she had gotten in her eyes when she realized that’s what was happening. It had been soft and grateful under the guilt she felt at being the cause of someone else’s (well deserved, in his opinion) suffering, and he resolved again and again that she would never look at the god like that in his presence if he could help it. 

There was no such protection on his account, and as soon as the town gossips and busybodies realized this, the rumor mill went into overdrive. It was romantic, they whispered, that the Sea God defended his consort’s honor so diligently. Sure, Max had punched the first guy who’d spoken ill of his wife, but the Sea God sucked all the water out of the man’s body! Nevermind that it was Max and Kadijah who looked after the man’s grieving husband and children and got them set up with the correct benefits programs to help support them! Oh no! It was the Sea God, that stupid, stinking mutant fish, who was seen as the hero in all of this, and he, steady, reliable Max who’d pledged his very life to maintaining the health and prosperity of the town, who was seen as the failure, the fool.

So by the time the dawn of the first day of the celebration broke over the sleepy horizon, Max was already emotionally done with everything to do with the Sea God and honoring him. Still, he was First Among Captains, and so he would go through the motions with a smile on his face, pretending with all his heart that he did not loathe the very god he would spend the next two weeks giving thanks to.

“You ready, bae?” Kadijah was standing next to him in the small dressing room off the side of the main celebration hall. She had a vest made of old fishing net and studded with electroformed pieces of metal, a tribute to both gods, in her hands that she was holding up for him to wear. He sighed heavily and stripped off his shirt, scowling as he snatched the vest from her fingers and shrugged it on. The entire thing was itchy as hell and poked painfully into his skin. Kadijah blew out an impatient breath.

“What? I’ve got the damn thing on,” he muttered, a twinge of irritation bleeding into his voice. She rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.

“Look, Max, you’re the one who wanted to be First Among Captains, and this is something that you have to do. I know you don’t care for one of the gods we’re honoring, but you can at least keep your negative opinions about it to yourself.” She said. He rolled his eyes, suddenly angry but doing his best to push it away. Every time he turned around, she was defending that creature as if it hadn’t ruined their lives, as if it wasn’t still ruining their marriage.

“This isn't exactly easy for me, Kadijah. It's barely been a week since that thing basically raped you in front of my eyes, and you walk around like it was no big deal! How can you still worship that thing, and how can you pretend like everyone isn't laughing at us?” He hadn't meant for all of that to come out, but he couldn't stand to listen to her scold him again as if he was in the wrong. Unwittingly, he'd cut to the core of what had been bothering him all week. 

From the moment that creature put its hands on her, she acted as if it was perfectly ordinary to be spread out like a feast and consumed in front of a crowd for the enjoyment of a god. It was as if her loyalty to him was nothing compared to what she felt for the Sea God, and part of him suspected more and more that she would have lain with that creature even if the town wasn't being threatened. A suspicion she did nothing to counteract. He couldn't count the times he'd caught her gently touching one of the many healing bites and hickeys the Leviathan left behind on her gorgeous skin, a look of reluctant longing on her face that was always guiltily wiped away when she realized he was watching. 

She tossed her hair angrily, the colorful seashells and bejeweled thunderbolts tinkling wildly amidst the ink black braids. The stare she leveled his way stopped the boiling crest of his anger in its tracks, leaving him feeling cold and ashamed.

“First of all, Max, no one is laughing at us. The very few people who were have already been taken care of, so please get over yourself. As for what you said about me,” she paused and stepped into his personal space, glaring up at him through narrowed black eyes, “even if the alternative was something I couldn't live with, it was still my choice to lay down on that dock and have sex with the Great Leviathan. Despite what you think, he's not a cruel god. If I had refused him, he surely would have chosen someone else or another method of atonement. He wouldn't let innocent people suffer for the sake of his pride.”

He bristled at that, anger kindled anew and surging hot through his veins. 

“So why didn't you say no if you're so sure he would have done those things instead?” He snapped. Her glare turned incredulous then, as if she couldn't believe she had to spell it out for him.

“Because I belong to him, Max. I always have,” she said, and he hated how her gaze turned sympathetic as she took in the angry incomprehension on his face. Just outside the door, the beginning notes of a song were filtering through the heavy wood. Kadijah touched his chest, smoothing the best down on his bare skin with practiced ease. Max couldn't bring himself to look much farther down than the top of her hair. 

“Come on,” she said quietly, taking his hand in hers and leading him toward the door, “everyone's waiting for us.”

\----

Kadijah resolved to have a good time at the festival in spite of Max. After the commencement ceremony was done, she peeled away from Max’s side and was immediately swept up in a rousing circle dance led by the children of Reach. Children, orphans especially, were said to be dear to the Sea God, who sent them sweet dreams and, if tragedy struck, escorted them to the loving arms of the Spirit God himself. Women enjoyed the same patronage from the Storm God, and during the festival, it was not uncommon to see many small circle dances join into one immense circle dance populated by laughing, screaming, joyous women and children caught up in the frenzy of their worship while the men looked on with envy in their hearts. They were only allowed to join this dance if their own patron god, the Wind God was shown to have been kind that year, something that was an infrequent occurrence. 

By the time dusk fell and everyone was gathering from outside into the dining hall, Kadijah was exhausted from a long day of dancing, singing, and hanging out with friends. Many of her closest friends were sailors and fisherpeople and as such were only sporadically at port in Reach. It was always with a wistful heart that she watched their ships sail over the horizon, her heart still yearning for the nomadic life she had known for so long. Sometimes, she wondered if this life she was building with Max was worth the constant ache she felt for the sea. Ah, but what was the use of wondering such things, she thought as she entered the dining hall. There was no going back to those carefree days on the sea.

The dining hall was beautifully decorated. Strings of light encased in blue and purple colored sea glass draped artfully between the pillars, and balloons shaped like clouds floated above the crowd. In the corner, musicians were playing the oft sung “Ode to the Lightning God,” a soft, sweet song written by the first human to ever catch a glimpse of the beautiful goddess. In the center of the room was an intricately carved fountain depicting a whale and a crow, the sacred animals of the Sea and Storm gods. The whale, a strange creature with a pair too many eyes and what seemed like a few too many flippers, was cresting a wave while the crow perched on a cloud overlooking the sea creature. From the whale’s blowhole spurted a strangely musical stream of water while the crow’s eyes glowed an eerie greenish white light. The water fell down the whale’s back to pool below, and the children often threw wishing coins into the fountain in the hopes that the whale god would grant them their dearly held desires.

Max caught up with her then, gathering her in his arms and holding her close as he lead them around the room in a slow dance. There was an apology in his eyes that Kadijah didn’t have the heart to refuse. She rested her head on his chest instead and contented herself with the steadiness of his heartbeat. 

All around them, couples started forming on the dance floor, most of them flashing relieved smiles her way when they caught her eye. She returned the smiles, knowing that they, like her, were pleased to see Max in a much calmer mood than he had been when the day first started. Despite what he thought, almost everyone in the town had been able to tell his mood had been off since the visit from their patron god the week before, and they took this new found peace between the married couple as a good sign of an improvement in his attitude going forward. Kadijah could only hope they were right. 

“Paolo and Jose have been giving me a stern talking to all day,” he murmured in her ear, his voice alive with the humor that first drew her to him. She chuckled, nuzzling her cheek against the scratchy material of the vest he still wore. 

“And what did you learn from those two old heads?” He snorted and ran his fingers through the curtain of her braids.

“That I need to chill out and be thankful the god didn’t ask for more than he did. They’re right: he could have taken you to the bottom of the sea or the void he crawled out of at the beginning of the universe,” Max said, and Kadijah was inclined to agree with him. The Great Leviathan could have asked for anything, and they would have had to give it to him. His displeasure was legendary and feared from port to port. It was not an uncommon sight to come across entire stretches of sea that no fish would swim through despite the rich plant life to be found there, nor was it strange to come to port to what used to be a bustling port town but was rendered a ghost town because the inhabitants had incurred the Sea God’s wrath. It happened all the time, seemingly without any cause, and the atonements were always varied and painful for those involved, but none of them, in the thousands of instances she had heard of, had been sexual in nature. Until now. 

What was so different about their town, about her?

“That’s true,” she said, shaking herself free of her thoughts. There was no use in wondering about it. The Sea God ( _ Levi _ , she thought with a sense of guilty giddiness,  _ he told me to call him Levi _ ) had not been spotted since that day, and he seemed pleased to stay away despite what he’d told her about the frequency with which he intended to have her. Was it disappointment that curled in her gut at the realization that he may have been lying to her, or was it simply relief that she would not have to betray herself, her long held and deeply buried desires, once again? 

“In any case, it seems like he’s done with us, but I have been wondering,” he said pulling her away from him so he could watch her expression, “what was it he said to you that day?”

“ **That is none of your concern, Max, First Among Captains,** ” the whale god’s voice rang out over the dull roar of the assembled people, instantly silencing them. Within the cage of her husband’s arms, Kadijah instantly twisted, drawn almost without thinking to his voice, to see his face. Max stiffened, his head turning to the Sea God’s so fast, Kadijah could practically hear his neck bones popping in protest. 

He was lounging, unsurprisingly, in the fountain, his arms braced on the lip of the pool as he held himself up over the water. The adults closest to the fountain scrambled away, most of them falling into the proper respectful kneeling position while the children gathered around him with excited squeals and shouts. He smiled at the youngsters, let them touch his arms and face with their fingers dirty from a full day of play out in the dirt, let them kiss his cheeks and nose and kissed each of their foreheads in blessing, and laughed when many of them climbed fully dressed into the fountain so they could run their hands across his fins and tail. When they’d finally sated their curiosity about him, the Sea God turned his attention away from the children and back to the adults. 

“ **Kadijah** ,” he called out, amused when the adults parted to reveal her still standing in the loose circle of her husband’s arms,  **“it is time. Come to me.** ”

\----

Max couldn’t believe it. Just as he was letting his guard down, the creature returns! Kadijah was trembling in his arms, and he pulled her closer, positive her shaking was due to fear and disgust at the thought of having that fish inside her once again. Sure, she had put up a brave front all week, she’d even fooled him, but now that she was faced with the prospect of more time, more humiliation at the hands of the stinking mutant, her true feelings on the matter were revealed. 

_ This time, I’ll keep her safe. _

It disgusted him to watch the children interact with the Sea God, to see them slobbering all over the monster as if it was capable of doing anything other than harm to them. Didn’t their parents know the stories? Hadn’t they heard of all the things that creature had done to the people who had the gall to stand up to it? Was he the only one around here who cared about what that thing might do to their kids? More and more, it seemed to be just that way. He was the only one who saw that thing as it truly was, and no one in attendance, no one in the world, was going to save help him save his wife from that monstrous god. He would have to do it alone.

The god called out to Kadijah, and the crowd parted as easily as warm butter under a knife. For a moment, the black eyed bastard caught his eyes, and Max shivered with revulsion at the lust and anticipation he saw directed towards Kadijah. That thing was practically salivating at the thought of having her again. It probably got off on the sight of the still healing wounds it had left on her skin, most in places that weren't easily concealed. She'd tried to cover them with makeup, but none of it would stick. Max was certain it was the god’s doing. 

A small, worried noise left Kadijah, and her grip on him tightened momentarily before she took a faltering step forward. Max’s hands acted without conscious thought, grabbing his wife by the backs of her arms and holding her to him firmly. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, the weight of their stares nearly driving him to his knees. He stood firm against it and glared fiercely at the god in the fountain.

“She's not going with you.” He felt rather than heard Kadijah’s sharp inhalation of breath. Vaguely, he registered the shocked gasps and low, scared murmuring of the people, but he couldn't bring himself to care. His gaze was fixed on the Sea God, trying to read the unreadable expression that had fallen over his features. The whale god looked him over carefully, the exact focus of his gaze impossible to determine, but still Max felt the weight of it pressing down upon him more keenly even than that of his people. He felt the focus of that ancient gaze shift from him to the woman in his arms. Like before, he was basically restraining her. She was leaning toward the god, her every muscle strained as she unconsciously tried to break free of his grasp and go to it. Max gritted his teeth and had to refrain from increasing his grip, reminding himself that it was the monster who was making her act this way. She wouldn't do this on her own; it had to have her under some kind of thrall. 

“ **You will not yield her to me?** ” The Sea God asked, and Max scoffed, the very thought absurd. 

“Fuck no!” He yelled and was savagely pleased when he saw the god subtly flinch. Kadijah’s distressed whimper went unnoticed by him but not the god, whose mouth pulled down in an unhappy frown when he heard the noise. 

“ **Very well, I take my leave of you then. Kadijah, my love, do not blame yourself for this,”** the Sea God said softly before the air seemed to bend around him, and he was gone.

“Oh, Max, what have you done?” Kadijah whispered, her horror tempered by what Max suspected was heartbreak. What she had to be heartbroken about, Max was not sure. 

“Everything will be fine,” he said loudly, disrupting the hushed conversations that had erupted throughout the spacious room, “it'll all be fine,” he said in a softer tone to Kadijah. She pinched the bridge of her nose, suddenly very, very tired.

“I really hope you're right about that.”

**IV.**

Jocasta was finally, finally done with Max. For three weeks their town and their livelihoods had been suffering, and it was all very definitely his fault.

The day after Max refused to let Kadijah do her duty by the Leviathan, the local fishermen, freedivers, and scavengers went out as they normally did only to return within hours. She could still see their faces, pale despite their dark brown complexions with worry and trepidation in every work weary line as they, one after another, approached the Captain's table and told their tales. Each story was different, and yet they were frightening in their similarities. 

“The currents fight against us,” some said.

“The fish are nowhere to be found,” said others.

“There's nothing down there; not even the plants can be pulled from their roots,” said still others. 

“That's nothing,” Max had said, uneasiness hidden from those who weren't familiar with him by the easy confidence he layered over his every word, but Jocasta heard it, and she knew the others did, too. The festivities resumed, but the entire celebration held an undercurrent of displeasure, a thickening swell of malcontent that made every shout of praise ring false.

The Leviathan was not happy with them.

Still, the celebration had its appointed length, so the depth of the god’s pique wasn't known until the long distance ships went out. 

First to go out was Paolo, he and his crew shoving off as soon as the festival was officially over. Paolo possessed a spiritually sensitive soul, and he had been agitated ever since Max told the Sea God to fuck off. Two days out, he radioed back.

“The fish are here, but we haven't caught a single one, not even garbage, not even our own bait! We can literally see them swimming in the fucking water next to us, and we've had mechanical trouble the entire trip.” He headed back soon after that report and hadn't attempted to go out again. 

Shasta was next to try, but she didn't even get as far out as Paolo, only gone for a day and a half before she was calling back for help. Something, she didn't know what except that it was huge and only surfaced in the dark of night, kept nudging them off course and had caused substantial damage to the ship. Max and his crew went out and towed them back home. 

The rest of them knew bad signs when they saw them and did not even attempt to go out. They were cursed, or rather, one of their number had brought down the wrath of a god upon their heads, and he was too much of a stubborn, prideful ass to do what needed to be done to save them.

Jocasta wanted to empathize with Max, she really did, but she had a wife and two daughters to provide for. The bounty of the sea was what they survived on; a town like theirs couldn't last long without it. He needed to stop this foolishness and relinquish his hold over Kadijah so that they could all prosper again. 

That thought is what saw the thirty-three year old captain knocking on the door of Max and Kadijah’s house in the middle of the day. Her hope was that she would find the young woman alone in the house so that they could speak frankly about the situation. Maybe she could talk Kadijah into going to the Leviathan herself and ending all of this. After a few moments, the door opened to reveal Kadijah. Jocasta quickly looked her over, took note of the fading but still visible hickey on her neck, the dull quality to her normally vibrant brown skin, and the stress that dimmed her usually lively brown eyes. 

“Oh, hello, Miss Jocasta, please come in,” Kadijah said, injecting cheeriness into her voice. Jocasta smiled warmly and pulled the young woman into a comforting hug before stepping in. The two settled on the couch after Kadijah set out cold water.

“Is Max here?” Jocasta asked, sipping her water and looking around. The living room was very cozy, decorated in warm blues and dark greys that gave it a dark and comforting air. It was offset by the large bay windows that let in sunlight and showcased a lovely view of the beach and sparkling sea, and plants flourished in every spare patch of sunlight. 

“Nah, he's on the  _ Siren’s Heart  _ at the moment,” Kadijah said, her keen eyes taking in Jocasta’s visible relief at that. She quirked an eyebrow, and Jocasta couldn't help but laugh a little.

“I wanted to talk with you in private, “ she said, and Kadijah nodded, her eyes wandering to the open sea.

“I've already tried,” she said, chuckling darkly at Jocasta’s surprised expression. 

“You came here today to ask me why I don't just go to the Leviathan myself, and I'm telling you now that I have. I've gone to him every night. I've begged and pleaded with him to take me,” she closed her eyes, a hand fluttering up to the bite mark on her collarbone, gently stroking the raised edges of it, “and every time, he says the same thing. ‘ _ There are rules, sweet girl, and I must abide by them. Max has to release you to me. That was the condition of atonement for your town, and if your end isn't being met, then I cannot meet mine _ .’ That's what he says each time. He won't even let me touch him,” she said, eyes sliding shut and features twisting with something Jocasta thought must have been pain and longing. 

She never truly understood the deep connection the sea nomads had to the Great Leviathan; her allegiance and devotion always had its root in the Storm God, though she gave the Sea God his due diligence. The Storm God, while present in the lives of her followers, preferred to keep them at an arm's length while her followers lived. True union with her was to be found in the afterlife as part of the clouds and her never-ending dance with the seasons. Still, it must sting very much like rejection when the Sea God refused her touch, especially for someone as devoted as Kadijah. 

“So, it's down to Max?” Jocasta asked. Kadijah nodded, and the captain blew out an angry breath. They were doomed. There was no way Max would relent when it came to this. Even the youngest child knew that Max harbored serious hatred, resentment, and jealousy in regards to his wife's devotion to the Great Leviathan. He was a man who always scorned the gods, never realizing that he was blessed by them, and now he could hardly deal with a world in which the gods scorned him. He would drag them all screaming into the depths before he surrendered anything to the Sea God. 

“Have a little faith in Max, Miss Jocasta. He loves this town like it was his own child. He'll do the righ-” Jocasta blinked, rubbed her eyes. In-between one second and the next, Kadijah had vanished. The air around where she had been felt strange when Jocasta swiped her hand through it, cold and hot at the same time, and she snatched her hand back. 

“By the Void,” Jocasta breathed and dashed out of the house and towards the  _ Siren’s Heart _ .

\----

Max was not a man who liked to admit when he was wrong. It was always a sour taste in his mouth, a churning in his guts that made him feel constipated. He typically avoided it at all costs. But that wasn’t something he could do this time. As more and more time passed it became increasingly apparent that their misfortune was not due to the classic whims of an unknowing sea. No, this had purpose and even malevolence behind it. The Sea God was punishing them all, and it was his fault. 

For once, he was able to look at the situation without his ego in the way. He looked on the families that lived paycheck to paycheck, to the children without parents who depended on the revenue of the town for food and shelter. Their suffering, slight now but growing with each day they failed to bring in the many items they drew as a town from the sea, was apparent on their faces. As was their condemnation of his pride and selfishness. 

What did it matter, he asked himself, that he hated the Leviathan and found him to be a cruel and spiteful god? His people lived and died by the god’s whim; he should know better than to antagonize such a creature. He did know, and he knew what he had to do, but it was hard, it was so incredibly hard, to relent. 

Every night, he would pretend to be asleep as Kadijah snuck out of their bed and threw open the doors, rushing out into the night to the beach. He would follow silently behind her, hide behind an outcropping of rock, and watch as she softly called to the Leviathan. The god would answer, his form suddenly there among the gentle waves but too far for Kadijah to touch. She begged him each night to take her, and every night, the god would refuse, the regret in his voice obvious even to Max. There were rules, the god patiently explained each time, and because he abided by those rules, Max had to be the one to say it. Kadijah would sink to her knees in the sand then, her arms hugging her sides and head bent low. The god would meet Max’s gaze then, glittering black eyes all but saying that her suffering, all their suffering was on his shoulders. Max could not deny his part in it, though it pained him greatly. 

He needed time to gather the strength needed to humble himself. He took to spending time on his ship, letting himself be soothed by its familiar rocking as he lay curled on his bunk. His crew watched him resentfully, and finally he told them his intentions.

“About time,” most of them muttered, but there were relieved smiles on most their faces.

And so, at about the same time Jocasta was knocking on the door to his house, Max walked to the edge of the Fish King’s dock and sat down. His feet, bare, dangled over the edge, and he stared at them.

“I know you can hear me, Sea God. We need to talk,” he said. A moment passed, the only sound the rhythmic push and pull of the water. Then:

“ **I wondered how long you would last, Max, First Among Captains.”** The Sea God was next to him, his lower half submerged in the clear water, his upper half leaning casually against the dock. His head was tilted back, eyes closed as he basked in the bright sunlight. Max clenched his teeth.

“We both know that I don’t fucking like you, and the only reason I’m doing this is because it’s the only way to save the town,” Max growled, hands two shaking fists at his side. The Leviathan moved suddenly, gliding so that he was between Max’s legs, his face twisted into a sneer and void black eyes narrowed to slits. Max jerked away but was stopped by the hand that shot up out of the water and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, dragging him down until he was practically nose to nose with the god.

“ **And I think we both know that I could give a shit less whether you like me,** ” the whale god snarled, his voice so low and full of violence it shook Max’s bones, “ **the only thing I care about is that you give to me what is rightfully mine. I will have Kadijah, and I will have her impaled on my cock sooner or later, so do the right thing for your people and have it be sooner,”** the god smirked then, and Max felt the air squeeze around him, narrowing his vision until all he could see was the black of the god’s eyes. Fear entered him then, and for the first time, it truly dawned on him that this was a god he was dealing with and not some merman or other mortal creature. The Leviathan released him, but Max was still pinned by his stare.

“ **Return Kadijah to me, and I will let you have the honor of raising the children I’m going to give her. You will always net the biggest and best fish, and your hull will never be empty when you come home. Give me what is mine, what you** **_took_ ** **from me when you had the gall to marry her, and all will be forgiven.** ” The Sea God said, finally releasing him fully. Max sucked in a breath and held it in an attempt to slow his racing heart. So that was what this was all about. It wasn’t him the Leviathan hated; it was the fact that he had taken Kadijah away. He would have done this to anyone she married, in any town she settled in. That did not comfort him.

“How long are you planning to come around?” He asked, flinching slightly when the god’s grin revealed those jagged serrated teeth.

“ **For as long as she’ll have me, and I think we both know she’ll have me for a very long time. Say the words,”** the Sea God said, all trace of patience gone. Max swallowed hard, closed his eyes to blot out the sight of the god and told himself that it was for the sake of the town.

“You can have her.” He said. The air flexed around him, and when he opened his eyes, the god was gone.

\----

Kadijah opened her eyes and found herself lying in a nest of blankets in what appeared to be a cave. She sat up slowly, absently thinking that these were the softest blankets she had ever felt, and looked around. 

The cave was lit by old whale oil lamps strategically placed around the space. They gave off either a bluish white or purplish white light, the two intermingling to create a surprisingly pleasant atmosphere. Just beyond the nest of blankets was a pool, lit from underwater by the same purplish white light. She couldn’t quite tell from her place in the nest, but she thought it might be some kind of passageway. Past the pool, more of the bluish white light filtered in, and she assumed that was from the mouth of the cave. Fleetingly, she thought about rising from the nest and at least seeing where she was, she didn’t remember leaving her house after all, but it was so comfortable, so much like the home she’d spent her entire life looking for, that she couldn’t bring herself to move. 

“ **Kadijah. Come to me, sweet girl.** ”

She knew that voice! It haunted her dreams in the dead of night, and the touch of its owner’s hands still ghosted across her skin. She rose, stepping clumsily from the cocoon of warmth, and skirted the edge of the pool, her steps slow and unsure as she approached the mouth of the cave.

For a moment, the brighter light at the cave entrance blinded her. She squinted her eyes, focusing them on the dark figure sitting down on the ledge. It held out its hand to her, and she took it, immediately recognizing the Leviathan by the callouses on his fingers. When her eyes adjusted, she flushed, a happy smile shyly touching her mouth. He squeezed her hand in his and tilted his head out towards the scene around them. Taking the hint, she dragged her eyes away from him and gasped.

“Where...where are we?” She breathed. He hummed, a pleased noise rumbling from deep in his chest.

“ **We’re in the Void, my home** .”

There was no ground beneath them or sky above them. All around them was the same bluish white light going on and on in every direction, broken only occasionally by floating islands. Some of these islands were barren outcroppings with only twisted pieces of driftwood scattered across their surfaces, and some were overflowing with plantlife. In the distance, whales and cephalopods glided through the air, the whale’s songs carried to them on the gentle breeze that seemed to have no end. She once again looked at Levi and sucked in a breath. Where his tail was there was a kind of shifting black smoke, and at times it looked as though he had legs in place of the tail. Looking at it for more than a second made her eyes hurt, and so she directed them to his face, which had a curiously vulnerable look to it.

“It’s beautiful here, Levi!” She exclaimed, eyes sparkling with wonder. A wide grin broke across his face, and it occurred to her then that the look on his face had been nerves over whether or not she would like his domain. 

**“I am glad you think so** ,” he said, entwining their fingers. The act, so simple, so intimate, made her heart pound, and she was suddenly nervous in his presence. She stared at their joined hands, wondering what all this meant. For weeks, he had refused her touch, wouldn’t even come within arm’s distance of her. Did bringing her here now mean that Max had finally relented? Had he given the bounty of the sea back to her people, or would that come after he had his fill of her? A hand cupped her cheek and tilted her head up so that she could meet his eyes. So many people had described his void black eyes as terrifying and unknowable, but she couldn’t disagree more. The look in them now was nothing short of tender.

“ **Your Max has graciously given me the honor of having you by my side once more, and so I have given the fish leave to return to their natural places,”** he said, voice low as he pulled her close and touched their foreheads together. Her free hand came to rest on his bare chest, and her mouth parted around a relieved smile. 

“I knew he’d do the right thing,” she whispered, eyes darting between his full lips and his intense eyes. It amazed her how badly she wanted him to kiss her, how anticipation burned low in her belly just from the thought of it. Would he take her as roughly as he had before? Or would he take his time with her? Kadijah found she didn’t much care either way just so long as he took her and soon.

“ **Your faith in him is truly admirable, my sweet girl,** ” he said, tilting her head back to expose her neck to his hungry mouth. 

He trailed lingering kisses up the smooth column of her throat, sucking and biting, slowly reclaiming his territory. The faintest trace of Max’s scent lingered on her skin, and he had to briefly close his eyes against the possessiveness that overwhelmed his being and demanded that he go end the pathetic human creature that dared place hands, mouth, or tongue on this woman who had given herself to him. He shoved the urge down, reminding himself that he was above that level of vindictiveness. It was better for the human to have to watch as Kadijah’s womb swelled with his child; much more painful than a quick death would be. 

She moaned, eyes sliding closed and hands tangling themselves in his dark, curly hair as she gave herself over to his touch. Why lie to herself anymore? This was what she had always wanted, had dreamed about in the dark of her cabin on her father’s ship as a teenager. The hope of it carried her through her college years, pushed many men and women away from her because she could not bring herself to lower her sights. That Max got her attention at all was the miracle.

Levi pulled her close, and it was only when her bare breasts met with his chest that she realized she was clad only in a pair of panties. She leaned back, certain she’d had clothes on just a second before.

“ **This is how you always look when you dream of me, and I’ve become fond of the sight. The rest of your clothes are in the cave, don’t worry,** ” he said, grinning at her embarrassed expression. He pulled her close once more, stroking a hand down her bare back as he set his lips and teeth to her collarbone.

“You knew about my dreams?” She asked, biting back a moan as he kissed his way to her breasts. She was on her back, their legs entwined as he hovered above her. His hands skimmed up her ribcage, testing the strength of her bones, before cupping her breasts. He bent down to kiss each hardened nipple before answering her.

“ **You were calling me so sweetly, how could I not answer you?** ” He said, rolling her nipples between his fingers and watching with fascination as she arched up into his touch. She could hear the truth of his words in his voice, in the longing he was trying to hide. How long had he watched her hungrily from the darkness of her dreams? Had he known, all this time, how desperately she ached for just the slightest glimpse of him in the wide expanse of the sea? Did he know that her eyes could hardly stand the sight of land, knowing that he would not be there? How she envied the creatures of the oceans their access to him!

Cool air brushed against her heated skin, and she shivered, the sensation too intense when coupled with his searing hot mouth suckling her nipple. He glanced up at her, black eyes matte with arousal, the sight of her breast in his mouth so erotic that she had to look away.

“ **Are you cold, sweet girl?** ” He asked, releasing her nipple to nibble and lap at the sensitive underside. 

“Aaah, a little,” she said, squirming as his fingers trailed down her sides. He chuckled low in his throat, stretching his lean body out next to hers, inserting himself between her and the ledge. His arms slid under and around her, cocooning her in the heat that radiated from his body. She tilted her head up, her mouth parting as he ducked his head down to brush his lips against hers. 

“ **Can you stand it a little longer? I can’t deny how much I’ve thought about fucking you right here,** ” he kissed her again, pulling her close and pressing the hard ridge of his erection into the hollow of her hips, “ **how good your gorgeous pussy will feel around me, your moans echoing into the Void for me to enjoy for eternity.”** He shivered at the thought, his tongue pushing past her teeth and laying claim to her mouth. She clutched at his shoulders, arching into his embrace and moaning into the kiss. He ground against her, fingers digging into her skin, the friction driving him mad with lust. She hooked her leg over his hip, drawing him tight against her soaked panties, the only barriers between them her underwear and his dark pants. 

Her hand wiggled between them, fingers finding and undoing the button to his trousers and tugging on the material impatiently. He laughed against her mouth, rolling her onto her back and settling between her legs, deftly pushing the material down his hips until his cock sprung free. She wrapped her legs around him, her heels digging into the firm flesh of his ass as he rubbed against her through her panties, the material so saturated with her fluids that it coated him.

“I can’t wait, I can’t, oh, I can’t, I can’t,” Kadijah whined, her nails biting into the sleek muscles of his back, his hips relentlessly dragging his length against her covered slit and driving her to distraction. He sank his teeth into the tender flesh of her neck, groaning when the taste of her blood exploded on his tongue. Everything about her was absolutely delicious, and he planned on sampling her over and over again.

“ **Now? Are you sure you don’t want to go inside where you’ll be warmer?”** He asked teasingly, hissing out a laugh when she raked her nails down his back in reply. The look in his eyes intensified as he slowly pushed past her panties, the wide head of his dick just barely touching her dripping hole. He pushed in, just enough for her to really feel him, before retreating again, repeating the process again and again and hiding the vaguely sadistic smirk on his face in the crook of her neck as her frustrated whines grew in intensity.

“Stop teasing me! Give me all of it, now!” She finally snarled, eyes sparking with her displeasure. The fiery sight of her ire made his cock twitch eagerly against her, and he gripped her firmly by the back of her neck, flattening his form against her, his dick inside her only enough to stretch her hole.

“ **Why should I? You’ve been with** **_him_ ** **recently. I can still smell him on your skin, ruining your scent. You don’t need my dick, do you, love,** ” he growled, jealousy apparent in his deep voice, his hips pressing forward even as he tried to deny her. She writhed against him, her frustration turning into genuine irritation as she processed his words. Despite her growing frustration, Kadijah slowly smoothed her hands up his back, taking the time to feel the sweat lightly coating his skin. He was trembling above her, his hips subtly canting up and jerking back, as if it took everything he had to keep from fully seating himself in her slick heat. She ached, her pussy fluttering and flexing around his head, trying to pull him deeper inside. A part of her hated how badly she needed him, how empty she felt inside without him, but a bigger part of her reveled in the jealousy he was showing, in how badly he wanted her for himself. Was she wrong for liking it as much as she did? 

Her hands left his back, briefly smoothing down his muscular arms before traveling back up them, wrapping them around his strong neck, watching as his eyes fluttered shut when she applied the barest hint of pressure, before stroking her fingers down the line of his stubbled jaw. His eyes burned her, so utterly black that no light escaped them. He looked at her like he wanted to devour her, and she, fool that she was, wanted him to.

“You know I need you, Levi. I belong to you, remember?” She said, and she truly meant it. Before anything or anyone else, she was his. He inhaled sharply, his hands grabbing hers and pinning them on each side of her head, his eyes narrowed and his sharp teeth bared in a grimace of pleasure as he snapped his hips forward, relishing her loud, pleasured cry as he filled her. 

She had almost forgotten how full he made her feel, how every inch of him working inside her inflamed her nerves, spreading fire through her veins until all she could think about was the overwhelming pleasure he gave her so freely. The sounds he made her produce! Such raw, guttural noises of enjoyment, sounds that she would have been mortified to discover she was capable of in any other setting. Everything about it, from their entwined hands beside her face, the drag and scrape of her back against the rough rock of their personal floating island as he slammed into her again and again, the wet slap of his ball sac against her soft ass cheeks, to his panting, wet mouth as it moved against hers conspired to bind her more and more tightly to him until the very thought of being parted from him caused her soul to cry out in loss.

“ **You’re so good, Jah-Jah,** ” he moaned, hiking her legs over his shoulders so that he could penetrate her more deeply, hips pumping feverishly as his orgasm neared. She cried out raggedly, her eyes squeezed shut against the bliss building and building inside her. “ **You’re so, so good, so hot and wet for me, so fucking perfect.** ” He groaned against her thigh, voice muffled and slurred with pleasure, his strokes long and desperate as his balls drew closer to his body, his whole body bracing for orgasm. Not wanting to come without her, Levi flattened his hips against hers, changing his strokes to short, hard ones that rubbed his lower abdomen against the hard nub of her clit. She came with a choked gasp, her legs stiffening around him, back arching, and pussy pulsing around his rigid cock so insistently that he followed her almost instantly, her name a low hiss through clenched teeth as his dick jerked and spasmed deep inside her, shooting thick ropes of cum inside and making him shudder. 

He rested against her for a while, giving her long, soft kisses, moaning lowly when she widened her legs and pushed her hips up against his, her inner muscles flexing around his length and coaxing it into hardening. 

“ **You’re insatiable** ,” he murmured, slowly rocking into her. She bit her kiss swollen lower lip and peered up at him through long black lashes.

“I can’t help that you’ve hypnotized me with your dick,” she said, erupting in a fit of giggles at his incredulous look. He smiled, amused at her show of humor, and regretfully pulled out of her wet warmth. 

“ **My silly little human,** ” he said, affection tinging his words, as he stood up with her in his arms and made his way back into the cave. 

“Yours,” she agreed, and by the time he placed her in the soft nest of blankets and settled in, naked, behind her, she was asleep.

\---

  
  


The very first thing Max did when he got home from the Fish King’s dock was pour himself a strong drink and dig out that book, that  _ Songs of Sea and Void.  _ He had to do something to keep his mind off of where his wife was and what that awful whale god was probably doing to her, and learning more about his enemy seemed like a smart use of his time. Perhaps the book would reveal some secret weakness the god had that he could later exploit to get him to back off of Kadijah and their town? Max could only hope.

He flipped through the small book, past the diagrams and hand drawn sketches and scribbled notes that read more like love letters than spells, until he came to a section titled, Receiving the Mark: Void’s Consort. Curiosity peaked, he read.

__ __ _ About once in every generation, a person with a stronger than normal connection to the Void is selected by the Leviathan to become his consort. The chosen person is then tested in three ways. First, comes a test of selflessness. The Leviathan is looking to see if the person is capable of being intimate with him in his mer form in front of a crowd for the sake of others. Secondly, if the person has a significant other (and they almost always do) the Leviathan is looking to see how deeply the person’s dedication is to either himself, if they are a devotee of his, or to the people they promised to lay with him for. The third and final test is the most difficult and the one that no one has ever passed. In this last test, the Leviathan takes the chosen person to the Void itself, and once there, he takes on his most monstrous form, a form that has been described as equal parts human, rat, and some unknown beast of the Void. It is in this form that he asks the person to willingly perform an intimate act on him. If they refuse, and all have, they are returned home, and their town fades into obscurity. No one knows what the true nature of the Void God is until you are staring at the black eternity of it. _

__ The book fell from Max’s hands, and he leaned back, covering his face with his hands.

“By the Void, we were screwed from the beginning, weren’t we,” he breathed. He knew how much Kadijah loved that black eyed bastard, but he didn’t think even she was capable of having sex with some kind of human, rat, void monster creature. She had barely had the nerve to have sex with him in the mer form! He sighed.

“There’s only one thing I can do,” he said, ignoring his glass in favor of snatching up the bottle of liquor and taking long pulls from it.

“I hope she’ll be okay when this is over.”

\----

Levi considered the sleeping woman in his arms, for once very, very pleased with his choice. Over the countless years that sentient life had been blooming across Creation, he had been searching for a soul he could have as a companion. Sure, he had the company of the other gods, and sure, he valued his time alone, but even he knew that it was not good to go through existence by one’s self. The other gods, save Source of course, were all fleeting, their lives tied to their domains, and their domains tied to the life of the multiverse. Only she and he were truly what could be called eternal, being the representations of All and Nothing respectively. He could not be with her, of course: their natures directly opposed each other’s and could not mix except in the creation of souls, which took a bit of All and a dash of Nothing to create. In any case, he did not want her as she was a sister to him.

Besides themselves, the only other thing that was eternal was souls, but they had their own place for when Creation ended. For a soul to spend eternity with him, he would have to Mark it, to share a portion of his soul with it and to take a bit of its soul into himself. That wasn’t something that could be undone, and so, he tested each human that caught his interest. None had passed his final test, but there was always something in them that hinted at the coming failure, and so while he was disappointed each time, Levi could never truly say he was surprised.

But he had a good feeling about Kadijah. 

She had never been afraid of him, not even as a child, not even as an infant had she cried or been distressed at the sight of him. When her mother placed her in his arms as a mere two month old, she had simply opened those big brown eyes of hers, took in his shark toothed grin, and supplied a gummy grin of her own. She had never hesitated to jump from her father’s ship and into his waiting arms, shrieking with glee when he tossed her high in the air only to fall with a splash into the waiting ocean below. She’d easily shared all her secrets with him, her dreams of a strange place where there was no earth or sky, only endlessness, and in the center of it all, an incessant singing that pulled at her heart.

Levi knew then that he would test her, and so he left, giving her a chance to live her life without him, to see if the touch of the Void would lessen with time. He caught himself hoping, for her sake, that it would. 

The bond between them, forged by her mother when she was dedicated to him as a baby and strengthened by their years of play together, was always in his mind, a warm, comforting thing that kept him throughout the years away from her. He spent most of that time in the Abyssal plain, far away from sunlight, his material body floating frozen in the black waters while his mind wandered the seas and Void that were his domain. By the time her marriage rolled around, he had nearly convinced himself to let her pass through life untested. If her soul returned to this world again, he would find her, but for now, he told himself, he would let her live. 

He was not prepared for the way her marriage bond compromised the bond he shared with her. It shocked him, like the time Stormie blasted him with lightning, slammed him back into his physical body, and he jerked, convulsed as her heart that had been so long in his keeping was forcefully snatched from him and dumped carelessly into the hands of some human boy. He gasped, sucked in water, expelled it as he shot towards the far off surface, fish and sea mammals scattering as they sensed his confusion, his rage, his heartbreak. He surfaced in the shallows that her new home overlooked, drawn to her like a moth to flame. His keen black eyes had stared unblinkingly as the hulking, awkward form of her husband mounted her in the night, his stare focused on her form. 

Had she forgotten him so easily, he’d wondered, cocking his head as faint echoes of her pleasured moans floated to him on the breeze. We’ll just see about that, he’d thought, swimming out towards open water and taking the tide with him.

He traced the raised bumps of a healing bite mark on her collarbone, darkly pleased with how well everything was working out. She had not forgotten him, had given herself to him freely and eagerly, had said she was his.

“ **Now it’s time to see how far that statement really goes, my sweet girl,”** he murmured, excitement burning in his lower belly. He nudged her until she was just this side of wakefulness, whispered a set of instructions in her ear, then teleported himself to the “center” of the Void. There was no such center, not truly. The Void stretched endlessly in all directions, so any one place in it could be called the center, but this particular island was special to him. 

It was to this place that he took all prospective consorts, here that he administered the final test, and it was here, amid the singing whale bones, that he would give his consort his Mark and bind her to him for eternity. His form shivered, the clean lines of it becoming soft as he shaped himself into something horrible to look upon. Kadijah was the one, he was sure of it. Even now, the scent of her wet pussy wafted towards him on the wind, hardening his already straining cock to steel. His mouth opened, a long, rat-like snout bristling with long, razor sharp fangs, and a long, low call left him, the sound vibrating the air around him, disassembling the islands and reassembling them elsewhere. He dropped into a low squat, rat-like, prehensile tail waving lazily behind him, hands braced on the ground between constantly shifting feet, erection quivering in the cool air. 

Kadijah would pass. She had to.

\----

Kadijah woke with a start, her mind instantly alert and urging her out of the shelter of the nest. She stumbled out, looking around her with groggy eyes, wary of the incessant pull that was calling her out of the cave. Levi was nowhere to be found, and when she called for him, her voice only echoed back at her mockingly. irritated, she walked to the mouth of that cave, blinking owlishly at the drastic change in scenery outside. 

Where before their island was isolated from the other rock groupings, several hundred smaller rocks had lined themselves up, forming a sort of spiraling staircase that went several hundred feet down, slowly forming into a much larger island that was at least a mile long and half a mile wide. She looked around, noticed that the bluish white light had darkened into a greyish black, that the rocks themselves were slick and shiny like obsidian, brittle beneath her feet like pencil lead. The whales that glided by looked hungry, their songs tinged with impatience, and the once gentle breeze had whipped itself into a strong wind that blew her braids in her face no matter how many times she pushed them away, the consistency of it hot and humid. Now that she was in the open, the pull on her was nearly painful, and she found herself flying down the steps, heart lodged in her throat every time one of them would shift and tilt under her weight but her entire being consumed with getting relief from the pain of the compulsion. 

Twenty feet above the larger island, her foot caught on the end of one of the floating rocks, and she went airborne, landing with a painful groan on the hard surface of the island, sharp splinters of needle sharp rock embedding themselves in her naked skin. She was still only clad in her navy blue lace panties which Levi seemed to favor. 

“Fuck,” Kadijah groaned, resting her cheek against the hard stone. What in the hell was going on? She knew this had to be Levi’s doing. Nothing happened in the Void without his knowledge, so what exactly was the thinking behind this? Her breasts and stomach hurt from the force of her impact, and even without looking, she knew she had new cuts and bruises to add to the collection. What she wanted more than anything in that moment was to stay where she was and rest for the next decade. Her core was still achy and sore from taking Levi earlier, he wasn’t exactly small, and he had only just fit the entirety of his length inside her, and now he had her scrambling down unstable rock formations because he couldn’t be assed to simply wait around and take her with him wherever it was he needed her to be so badly. 

She slowly rolled over onto her back, tamping down her ire and pitifully massaging the hurt from her breasts. The pull was not as painful down here, but it was still as strong, still as insistent. She would be able to ignore it for a short time while she rested and gathered up the energy to get up.

**_Kadijah_ ** _. _

Her ears pricked, and she sat up, looking around her. Had someone called her name? 

“Levi?” She called out. The wind grew in intensity, pushing at her back until she was nearly bowed under from the force of it.

“Okay! Okay, I’m getting up right now,” she snapped, and the wind let up. She just barely refrained from rolling her eyes but got to her feet anyway. This was really too much.

In the center of the island rose two enormous slabs of rock that leaned against each other to form an arch. The center of that arch glowed a deep purple, and it was to here that the call pulled her. She walked toward it slowly, a strange apprehension beginning to fill her, especially as a dark silhouette began to break the purple light. She knew it had to be Levi, who else could it have been, but something about his form seemed off. Unsettling.

The purple light was coming from a shrine, an old thing made of driftwood and barbed wire draped with luxurious purple cloth, and in the middle of it was a necklace very similar to the one she currently wore around her neck. There was a faint, whispering singing coming from the shrine. Entranced, Kadijah forgot all about the dark figure to the left of the shrine, her mind zeroed in on touching that singing necklace.

“ **Kadijah** .” Levi’s voice, deep, deeper than she had ever heard it before and sounding as if it were vibrating through the spaces in her atoms, stopped her in her tracks. Something was not right. Every primal instinct she possessed was screaming at her to run, run, run, but she was frozen, locked in place as a force greater than she could ever be compelled her to turn around and face her lover. She did, a scream catching in her throat and dying there as she took in the awful sight of him.

Gone was the handsome face she had become accustomed to. In place of it, there was a rat head with at least eight (she counted eleven later, wet glistening beads set in a furry sloped skull) eyes and shark teeth so long and jagged he couldn’t properly close his mouth. A thick mane of wiry black hair, too long and kinky to be comfortably called fur, sprouted from the back of his head and under his snout and tapered off at his mid lower back and just under his pectorals, revealing the tawny skin of his muscular abdomen but starting up again as a thick trail of pubic hair that started under his bellybutton and culminated in a forest of black hair, his thick, straining erection, the length and girth of her forearm easily, and heavy testicles nestled in the center. His legs were an undefined reality of black smoke, furry hind legs, and what looked like tentacles. His arms were strangely human, well formed and defined, the fingertips topped with wickedly red, sharp claws. 

“Oh, shit. What the fuck is - what the fuck?” She was trembling, her eyes darting between his rat head ( _ he has a fucking rat’s head! How many eyes does he even need? Six, no eight! No, no...more than that. _ ) and the twitching cock between his legs. It was huge, the head of it large and as wide as the palm of her hand. It curved up in a lazy arch, the head of it smearing his precum across the skin above his belly button. There was no way that was going to fit in her; she would be split in two. Her eyes darted up to his face, her knees weak and trembling as she was pinned under all those glittering black eyes. He stepped forward, a single step that locked her in place and focused all her attention on his words.

“ **It is my intention to bind you to me for eternity, Kadijah. I would have you as my companion even after your mortal life is complete, but to give you my Mark, to entwine our souls, I need to know that you truly are mine.** ” His voice once again seemed to emanate from within her very atoms, making her feel like her bones were unstable and the atoms liable to loosen their bonds with each other and dissipate. Her mind raced, turning over his words again and again, amazed at the implications of his words but unable to help the shiver of disgust that raced up her spine at the sight of him. He wanted to be with her, wanted her soul by his side for eternity, and she was able to admit that she wanted that, too. 

That he was testing her now was apparent, and her spine stiffened in indignation that he thought something like this would be enough to put her off, but even as her courage rose, a small part of her, the same part that urged her to accept Max’s marriage proposal, the same part that always urged her to stop looking for the very god before her because he was not coming back, told her to turn away, to reject his offer. This was too much, what he was asking of her in this moment was too great a task. How could he ask this of her?

_ Am I a coward then? Or was I lying when I told him, when I told Max, that I belonged to him? Just where does my dedication meet its end?  _

“Release me, Levi,” she managed to whisper, and the force that held her was taken away. She thought she saw pain in those beady black eyes in the moment before she began walking toward him, and anger flared bright and hot in her blood. Did he think her so weak?

Once in front of him, she took a deep breath and pulled down her panties, finding it within herself to be vaguely amused at the sight of all those eyes widening and that terrible mouth dropping open in shock. She spun around until her back faced him and dropped to her knees, leaning forward until her head was pillowed on her folded arms, her legs braced open wide, and her ass sticking up in the air invitingly. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest, and blood roared in her ears.

“ **Kadijah** ?” Did she imagine the hesitance in his voice, the disbelief?

“No matter the form you take, I’m yours, Levi, so take me.” She said, unable to keep the tremor from her voice. There was silence, the only sound the howl of the wind and the singing of the whales in the distance. Then, he was flush against her, the wiry hair of his chest and groin prickling and tickling her sensitive skin, his breath hot and moist across her neck and shoulders, and throbbing erection hard and hot against her folds which, to her surprise, were slick with arousal.

“ **You are extraordinary,** ” he breathed, whiskers tickling her cheek as he pressed his face against hers, and she shuddered. Why in the Void did it have to be a rat’s head, she wondered miserably. She had a true horror of them.

He gripped her hips in his hands, the heat of them scalding, fingers digging in and holding her steady as he rocked his hips against her and coated the large length of him in her juices. The wide head of him prodded at her entrance, and she shivered in apprehension, sure that he would not fit all of that inside her. As if sensing her thoughts, one of his hands left her hip and came around to softly stroke the hard nub of her clitoris, making her jerk within the cage of his body above her. He shifted closer, his prodding turning into a slow, relentless thrust as he pushed his way inside her.

He was too big! Her back arched, fingers scrabbling for purchase on the barren rock as she withstood the force of his penetration. A wail, teetering on the edge between pain and pleasure, was torn from her throat, as he withdrew slightly and pressed back in, using her wetness to ease his  **entry.**

**“Relax, Jah-Jah, relax. I’m almost all the way in,** ” he crooned, his hands trailing restlessly over her body, squeezing her breasts, stroking her belly, hips, and ass, caressing her pouting clit and wet folds. She moaned, shaking her head and panting heavily. 

“There’s no more room in me. You’re going to split me in two,” she whined, feeling her pussy tremble and contract wildly around the length buried inside her. He ran a hand down her back soothingly before hunching over her, entwining the fingers of one hand with hers while the fingers of the other hand delicately spread her labia apart, rocking forward and finally seating himself fully within her. 

“ **Look at that,** ” he murmured, tongue rough as it darted out to lick a stripe across her straining neck. “ **You took all of me just like I knew you could.** ” She shuddered and dropped her head, whimpering as her inner muscles fluttered around him. He was so deep inside her, she could feel him in her abdomen. She felt speared on him, impaled, her entire being focused on him throbbing inside her. 

He worked her slowly, driving into her with short, gentle thrusts, building her up, giving her a chance to adjust to him until she was dripping wet, her juices rushing out of her every time he withdrew, her hips meeting his with increasing force until he was ramming his entire length into her with each thrust, her ragged, desperate screams drowned out by his animalistic snarls of pleasure.

She was chanting his name, a litany of sobs and broken renditions that was more pleasant and beautiful to him than the songs of his most ardent worshippers. He rose to his knees, banding his arms around her, hooking her feet around the back of his thighs, and fucking her with long, thought stealing strokes as he lifted her up and down on his cock. She rested her head in the thick scruff around his neck, fingers twisting in the hair as she clung to him with all her strength.

“It's so good, Levi, fuck, cum in me, baby,” she whined, her hips twisting to and fro as he fucked into her, his cock and balls wet with her juices.

“ **Gonna fill you up, gonna drown this pussy in cum till you're fat with my babies,** ” he growled, pinching her clit between his clawed fingers, his lips pulling back in a victorious snarl when she stiffened suddenly, her hands nearly ripping fistfuls of his fur out as her orgasm overtook her, the piercing cry echoing thinly through the thick air of the Void. 

He humped against her helplessly now, pressing her close to him as his climax built in his lower belly, control over his form weakening as his mind focused more and more intently on getting there. Never in his life had he wanted something so badly as he wanted to come in her, and as he fucked into her with increasingly jerky thrusts, all he could think was that he was almost there, almost there, almost -

“ **Kadijah** ,” he sighed, pleasure making him lose that last bit of control over his form as his cock pulsed deep within her, bathing her sheath in wave after wave of hot semen. He fell onto his ass, his form once again that of a young black-eyed man, holding her close as he let himself fall the rest of the way onto his back. They lay there for some time, their chests rising and falling as they panted. 

Kadijah stared up into the Void, watching idly as it returned to what she assumed was its natural bluish white color, the harsh wind dying down until it was once again a gentle breeze. Levi was absently massaging her breasts in his hands, and she was glad to see that they were no longer those bloody red claws. A sharp, burning pain on her left inner thigh threatened to rouse her from her utter exhaustion, but just as quickly as the pain came, it was gone. 

“What was that?” She asked, her voice hoarse. Levi shifted beneath her, pulling his now soft penis out of her and turning her until she was able to look him in the eye. He brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek, his eyes wide with awe and something infinitely more tender.

“ **That was my Mark. It’s a symbol of our bond. With it, your connection to the Void will grow, and when you die, you will come here and be with me,** ” he said, and Kadijah was amazed to realize she could feel his uncertainty. He was afraid that she regretted what they had just done, that even now she would decide that she didn’t want to be with him.

“Oh, Levi,” she said, shaking her head and allowing a snort of bemusement to escape her. His eyes widened, and she traced her finger over one of his heavy eyebrows. “You’re so dumb. Of course, I want to be with you. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.” She flicked him on the nose lightly, laughing again when he scrunched his face, and rested her head on his chest, her eyes growing heavy with exhaustion. 

“ **I’m never letting you go** ,” he whispered. She hummed her assent and let blessed sleep overtake her.

\----

Levi was licking his way up her inner thigh, his tongue paying special attention to her still healing Mark, when her cellphone rang. They were sprawled out on the back of one of the whales, this one appearing to be some kind of humpback, as it glided with its pod through a maze of floating rocks. Behind them was a forest of giant, multi colored jellyfish, another creature that the Void claimed as its own. He was wedged between her spread legs, one hand lightly gripping her muscular thigh while the other was splayed across her belly. Her fingers were entangled in his soft, curly black hair, and she had been tugging on it in an attempt to get his mouth where she wanted it when the sound of her ringtone pierced the air. 

Kadijah sat up, a confused look on her face as she looked around for where her phone might be. Levi was blissfully unconcerned, still blazing a slow trail up her thigh with his hot mouth. She pushed at his shoulders, and he grunted in annoyance, surging up from his place between her legs to rest his head on her shoulder.

“Was that my phone I just heard?” She asked. He shrugged, absently playing with her braids.

“ **Hm, probably. It's been ringing on and off for three days now.** ” She gasped.

“Three days? How long have I been here?” She asked, voice tinged with hysteria. Levi groaned, something suspiciously close to a pout on his face as he pulled her close and shifted them from the whale’s back to the nest of blankets in the cave. Her phone was still ringing, and she snatched it up, shooting her lover an irritated glance as she did so. He met her gaze, completely unapologetic, as he slid into the pool, his legs merging together and forming the sleek shark’s tail of his mer form. 

“Hello?”

“Kadijah! Thank the stars, I've been trying to reach you for days! Where are you?” It was Max, and he sounded near tears. Her heart twisted painfully at that, and the urge to hug him welled up.

“I-I’m with Le- I-I mean, the Sea God. How long have I been gone?” She asked, stumbling over her words as she remembered no one but her knew the whale god’s personal name. Max groaned, and she could picture him massaging his forehead in an attempt to gather his patience. 

“It's been two weeks, babe. How the -”

“ _ What?!  _ Two weeks? You know what? I'll be home in five minutes, bae.” She said flatly, hanging up the phone and glaring down at the suddenly empty pool of water. 

Levi poked his head just above the surface of the water, watching her with wary eyes as she got up and started dragging her clothes on. Her emotions were a swirling mix of anger, shock at how long she'd been gone, love, and a smidge of amusement. She pursed her lips and shook her head at him.

“Has it really been two weeks, Levi?” She asked. He surfaced more, holding a wet hand out to her. She took it and let him pull her into the warm water.

“ **Well...thirteen days, but yes. The Void is outside of your human concept of time, so naturally it's difficult for you to easily mark the passing of days,** ” he said as he crowded her against the rocky edge of the pool, pressing their chests together and forcing her to look up at him. 

She admired the way his bangs fell in front of his eyes, the way the rest of his wet hair plastered to his skull and neck and framed his face, the way the water droplets glimmered like jewels on his tawny brown skin. Her hands caressed his bare chest, unable to keep herself from touching him even though she was irritated with him, and unconsciously leaned into the warm hand that cupped her cheek.

“I have to go home, love. I have responsibilities.” She said. He touched their foreheads together.

“ **To that boy, that Max of yours?** ” He asked, voice a low, jealous rumble in his chest. She looped her arms around his neck, pressing closer than before. Their noses touched, and they were sharing each other's breath.

“Not just to Max,” she said, eyes catching on the dark stubble shadowing his jaw, on the fullness of his lips, the blackness of his eyes. There were no whites in his eyes, just endless pupils, like a shark in the midst of a hunt. His mouth was always so soft and plush against her own, perfectly hiding the jagged predator’s teeth behind them, and yet he was so careful when he bit her. The pleasure always outweighed the pain. 

His lips quirked up in a faint smile, a flash of teeth luminous in the eerie light. In an instant, they were gone from the Void, and Kadijah found herself standing barefoot next to the Fish King’s dock, a haggard and startled Max beside her. From the depths, two pitiless black eyes observed them.

“ **A human lifetime is not so long to wait, Kadijah, and I have made certain you will have much to remember me by. When you are ready, call, and I will come.** ”

His mocking laughter as he slipped below the still water was as distant thunder just past the horizon. 


End file.
